VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1995)
A film review by Stephen Rafferty
Copyright 1995 Stephen Rafferty
*- Bad, a dog. **- Poor, not much worth seeing ***- Good, had it's good moments ****- Great, well worth seeing *****- First rate, probably one of the years best.
VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED **
Directed by John Carpenter Starring: Christover Reeve, Kirstie Alley.
Based on the 1960 screenplay of the original of this sci-fi horror, which is based on John Wyndham's book THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS, this is a disappointing film for Carpenter. Although possessing a fleetish B-movie feel, which works partly, Carpenter does not create the mood of a town in havoc which we so expect from him. Carpenter (HALLOWEEN, THE THING) has been most successful when he sticks to the aura of horror as opposed to the physicality of it. Unfortunately he failed for the most part here. Reeve (SUPERMAN) plays the village Doctor in a small town which is suddenly hit by an unexplainable blackout. Following this blackout, all the women of child-bearing age become pregnant (including a virgin) and give birth to strange children who possess the same characteristics, one of which is the ability to make humans self-destruct.
As you would expect, the children go on a mad killing rampage, and Reeve tries to stop them. One of the most disjointed parts of the film is government Doctor Alley (LOOK WHO'S TALKING XXXVII) who one can never determine whether she is just an evil representative of Big Brother, being controlled by the children, or just plain mischievous and dull! Of course, we are set up with an ending battle between good and evil, and guess who wins!
There is some nifty photography and the SFX in the children's eyes is well done, but not enough to take this film into the enjoyable arena.
Carpenter needs to get his act together and start looking at his older films, especially HALLOWEEN and THE THING to re-learn how to direct suspenseful horror.
Stephen Rafferty Florida State University
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